Chuck Sweeny: Kinzinger wants to pursue 'big deal' with Democrats

Wednesday

Oct 2, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 2, 2013 at 1:03 AM

The argument among Republicans that led to the partial shutdown of the federal government Tuesday was more about strategy, less about policy. The GOP is united in its belief that the Affordable Health Care Act, which is now in effect, should be stopped.

The argument among Republicans that led to the partial shutdown of the federal government Tuesday was more about strategy, less about policy. The GOP is united in its belief that the Affordable Health Care Act, which is now in effect, should be stopped.

In its place, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said on “Meet The Press,” people without health care should get jobs that provide health care.

Some old guard Republicans, such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Rep. Peter King of New York, say that the party will be blamed for the government shutdown and could suffer in the 2014 midterm elections. But the radical vanguard, led by Cruz and other tea party stalwarts such as Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, say that the GOP will win the argument with the American people. They blame the Democrats for refusing the GOP’s compromise offer to delay the implementation of “Obamacare” for a year rather than scrap it.

Locally, Republicans representing the Rock River Valley said the shutdown will only be a problem if it lasts for more than a few days.

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, said House Republicans had tried to compromise with the Democrats, to no avail.

“We put various proposals together, initially to defund Obamacare, then to delay it for a year, and then to just delay the individual mandate for a year. All were rejected outright by the Senate,” Kinzinger said.

“Then we appointed conferees to go to work on a compromise with the Senate, and the Senate Democrats have refused to appoint conferees. It’s unreasonable to think that President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats don’t have to negotiate with an equal branch of government,” Kinzinger said, noting that the president is negotiating with leaders of Syria and Iran.

Kinzinger believes Senate Democrats are not negotiating “because they believe they will win politically. I really think right now people put the blame on (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid, but I’m concerned it will turn on the Republicans.”

With another crisis looming on Oct. 17, when the debt ceiling is reached, Kinzinger sees an opportunity to “make lemonade” and solve a lot of fiscal issues at once.

“Let’s talk about all the big issues and come to an organically grown big deal. If we can reform spending, we might get to do such a deal” to provide some long-term stability to the government.

State lawmakers didn’t seem concerned that the GOP will take sole blame for the impasse that has sidelined 800,000 federal workers and closed scores of federal offices.

“Both parties should be held accountable for the shutdown,” said state Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park. “Maybe not even the parties themselves, but the individuals in Congress who did this.”

State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, sees the shutdown as “no big deal. It’s happened before. It gets silly after a while. So much of this is for effect.”

The dean of the Rockford-area delegation to Springfield, state Sen. Dave Syverson, said that predictions of a GOP crack-up or national meltdown over the shutdown are greatly exaggerated.

“Uncertainty hasn’t created problems in the stock market. One plus for the Republicans is that the first day of signing up for the health care exchanges was an absolute disaster, and the website is crashing,” Syverson said.

“The Republicans say hold off until you can get it to work. Obama himself delayed the business mandate a year. Why not delay the individual mandate a year?”